Bottle carrier



Nov.l 4, 1947. R. WARNR Erm.

` BOTTLE CARRIER Filed April 2, 1946 Patented Nov. 4, 1,947

BOTTLE CARRIER Ralph Warner and Harold B. Smalley, Bloomington, Ill.

Application April 2, 1946, Serial No. 659,072

Claims. l

II'his invention relates to a bottle carrier.

Bottle carriers of various forms and construen tions have heretofore been provided and proposed. The prior constructions included bottle supporting trays, bottle gripping members, or a combination of both, and while such prior constructions, in most instances, provided for adequate support of the bottles, little consideration appears to have been given to simplicity of construction which is of prime importance in devices of this kind. Furthermore, an important condition in bottle carriers is that they provide for expeditious placement of the bottles therein as well as discharge of the bottles therefrom, and which condition does `not appear to have been given adequate consideration in prior bottle carriers.

A primary object of this invention is the pro`u vision of a bottle carrier which is capable of adequate support of alplurality of bottles being carried thereby, while being of maximum simplicity in its construction.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a bottle carrier which provides for expeditious placement of bottles therein as well as displacement of the bottles therefrom.

A still further ,and highly important object of the invention is the provision of a bottle carrier which is capable of construction at relatively low cost.

With the above objects in view, together with others that may become apparent in the course of the following description, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein- Figure 1 is .a side elevational view of the improved bottle carrier, showing a plurality of bottles in dot-and-dash lines, and further illus trating the handle in inoperative position.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the carrier.

Fig. 3 is a left-hand end View of the carrier illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, Il! designates the improved bottle supporting member or tray which is formed from a single piece of sheet metal bent on two parallel lines adjacent each end thereof in the provision of a horizontal top II, vertical ends I2, I2', and substantially horizontal supporting feet I3.

The tray Il! is provided with `a handle or bail i4 which includes opposite vertical portions I5 extending through suitable apertures in top II intermediate the sides thereof, and provided with right-angled ends I6 forming stops for limiting upward movement of the handle and consequent .lifting of the tray.

The tray is provided with a pair of relatively wide slots Il extending from adjacent the end i12" and partially through the `en-d I2 in the form of openings I 8 which provide for admission of the bottles to the tray and withdrawal therefrom, in a manner about to be described.

The carrier is adapted for use with Coca Cola or similar bottles which, as indicated in Figs. l and 3, have a downwardly haring bottom portion a which merges into an adjacent upwardly flaring portion b in a .plane c of minimum diameter of the bottle. In other words, the bottles have transverse sections c `of minimum diameter intermediate the downwardly flared land upwardly flared portions a .and b, respectively.

The carrier illustrated is adapted for the support of one dozen bottles, six in each slot l1, but it may be shorter or longer for carrying a lesser or greater number of bottles.

The openings I8 (Fig. 3) have their margins in conformity with thebottoin portions of 'the bottles B, and provide for successive admission of the bottles to .the slots I'I as well as removal of the bottles therefrom.

In Figs. l .and 3, a bottle B 'is shown being placed into the tray, and from Fig. 3 it will be noted that with the bottle B in a position 'for ladmission into opening I8 the section of the bott-le alined with `opposite edges of the slot ifi is of minimum .radi-i and slightly spaced from such edges. When the bottle B is moved past the opening I8, 'it is allowed to drop to the seated position of bottles B in Figs. l and 3, and in such dropping of the bottles opposed points' thereof-- in a circumference `great'er than that opposed to the edges of the slots when the bottle was entered through opening I8-rest on the edges of the slot, and the bottom portions of the bottles are below the lower edges of the opening, as is clearly shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 3.

The bottles upon being admitted through the openings I8 are successively slid along the slots I'I, and when the tray is filled, the bottoms of the bottles contact each other and the bottoms of the first and last positioned bottles in each slot contact the end walls I 2, I2. The bottles, furthermore, are of a form such that they substantially contact at points above their bottoms, as is illustrated in Fig. 1. When the tray is filled with bottles, the last bottle admitted to each slot I'I will have contact at its bottom with the adjacent bottle as well as with the end wall I2 below the slot I8, and the bottle will engage the slot edges at opposed points on the bottle. Thus it will be seen that end wall I2 will prevent horizontal movement of such last bottle in its vertical position, and such bottle is restrained from tilting about its slot edge supporting points out through the opening I8 by contact of its bottom portion with that of the adjacent bottle.

In order to facilitate loading and unloading of the bottles, the vertical portions I5 of the handle ill are freely movable through the apertures in the tray top II, and accordingly when the handle is released with the tray supported at rest, the stops I6 will automatically drop to engagement with the surface supporting the tray feet I3, as indicated in Fig. 1, and with the horizontal portion of the handle substantially displaced below the tops of the bottles. With the handle in this inoperative position, the tops of the bottles may be readily grasped without interference from the handle and, as shown in Fig. 3, there is ample room between the bottles 0f the two rows thereof to easily engage the displaced handle for carrying the tray when stops I6 will again engage the lower face of the tray top II.

While we have disclosed our invention in accordance with a single specic embodiment thereo-f, such is to be considered as illustrative only, and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being defined in the subjoined claims.

What we claim and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A carrier for bottles having transverse sec'- tions of minimum diameter intermediate downwardly flaring bottom portions and upwardly aring portions adjacent thereto, comprising a tray having a horizontal wall portion and vertical wall portions at the opposed ends of the horizontal wall portion and below same, a 'slot in the horizontal Wall portion extending from adjacent one vertical wall portion and opening through the other vertical wall portion in the form of an opening conforming to the downward flared bottom portion of a bottle diametrically thereof, the opposed edges of the slot supporting bottles admitted through the opening and engaging opposed diametrical points on the bottles above corresponding points on the transverse sections of minimum diameter of the bottles which aline with said edges upon admission of the bottles through said opening.

2. A bottle carrier according to claim 1, wherein said horizontal wall portion is provided with a second slot and corresponding opening in spaced relation to the aforesaid slot and opening, and a handle supported by the horizontal Wall portion between the slots.

3. A bottle carrier comprising a tray including a horizontal wall portion having bottle supporting slots therein, supporting feet carried by the tray substantially below said horizontal wall portion, and a handle including a horizontal gripping portion and vertical portions extending freely through apertures in the horizontal portion, and stops on the vertical handle portions engageable with the lower face of the horizontal wall portion when lifting the tray and engageable with the surface upon which the feet may rest upon releasing the handle with a consequent movement of the horizontal handle portion to a position below the tops of the bottles when supported in said slots.

4. A bottle carrier according to claim 3, wherein said slots terminate adjacent one end of said horizontal wall portion, and a vertical wall portion at the opposite end off said horizontal wall portion and between same and one of said supporting feet, and openings in said vertical wall portion for receiving the bottom portions of bottles and admitting same within said slots for support thereby.

5. A carrier for bottles having transverse sections of minimum diameter intermediate downwardly flaring bottom portions and upwardly flaring portions adjacent thereto, comprising a horizontally disposed wall portion, opposed end wall portions depending from the horizontal wall portions and provided with angularly disposed supporting feet, a slot extending lengthwise of the horizontal Wall portion for receiving bottles at their transverse sections of minimum diameter, said slot terminating at one end thereof adjacent one end wall portion and its other end communicating with an opening in the other end Wall portion for admission of the bottles into said slot.

RALPH WARNER. HAROLD B. SMALLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,758,098 Wiuiams May 13, 1930 1,949,207 Kinkead et al Feb. 27, 1934 1,973,854 Hoffman et al Sept. 18, 1934 2,097,802 Rivas NOV. 2, 1937 2,397,304 Watson Mar. 26, 1946 FOREIGN PATEN'S Number Country Date 106,796 Australia Feb. 28, 1939 

